Enjoying the Journey

Monday, May 27, 2013

Last year in March, I took control of my life. Prior that, I was trapped in a prison of my own making...an obese, unhealthy body. And I really WAS trapped. I couldn't move without pain. Just the slightest exertion would get me out of breath and have my heart racing. I worried all the time that I would have a heart attack or stroke. Its a miracle that I didn't! I was slowly killing myself with a sedentary lifestyle and too much food.

But on March 1, 2012, I started to make a change. I decided to be my own hero, and to save myself...from myself! I've talked about that in a lot of my other blogs....how I started just trying to make each day as healthy as possible, and how I started out barely able to exercise at all. So I'm not going to go into that again here. Thats not what this blog is about.

This blog is about how GOOD it feels to gain health! And about how amazing it is that even though I'm still far from my goal size, I really have come a long way, baby!

When I started this journey last year, I thought that my real life wouldn't begin until the day I was able to fit into my old size 10 jeans again. All I saw back then was a beginning and an end. I really didn't put much thought into the journey. It was all about reaching the goal. Well, guess what? The journey is pretty darned awesome!

So much has changed for me along the way. As I said, I'm still far from my goal...but thats okay! I have so much to be joyful about. I have lost 71 lbs, and have had HUNDREDS of non-scale victories along the way! I see progress in how I look, feel, move and LIVE!

I wake up each morning and I get out of bed, ready to face the day with enthusiasm. I look forward to my workouts, even when they are hard and challenging...because I know that if I keep doing them, I will get better and better. I LOVE seeing the improvements along the way. Its a huge thrill to be able to do something that used to be too hard for me. A year ago, I could never have imagined doing some of the things I do now.

I had been obese for so long, I'd actually forgotten how good it feels to be healthy. But now, even though I still have a lot of weight to lose, I feel great! Sometimes I get aches and pains when I exercise too hard...but the pain of exercise is NOTHING compared to the pain I once felt just trying to get through the day in an obese, unhealthy body.

So even though I still have a ways to go before I reach my goal, I am enjoying the journey. It will be wonderful to reach my goal, but I'm in no rush. I am living my life to the fullest now, and feeling stronger and healthier every day.

We all seem to build our own "walls" and hide behind them to shield us from 'pain', but we can choose to tear them down and begin to really address the underlying source of our 'pain'. It is a remarkable freedom when we do. Great Blog! Thanks for sharing.

So very true! Thanks for the reminder!! It gets really discouraging if all we think about is the goal that may be way off in the distance still. But the journey is today, a great place to put our focus!

AMEN Sparkfriend! Everything you said could have been said by me - except for the 71 pounds part :-) Still working on that. It IS about the journey and the baby steps that change our lives for the better.